Ryan Sparks
In 1991, the federal government banned lead shot for waterfowl hunting. Initially the ban motivated a transition from lead to steel shot, and steel remained the only option for waterfowl hunters for many years. Though steel shot is certainly less harmful to the environment than lead, its effectiveness is far from perfect. While steel is harder than lead, it is also less dense (around 8 grams per cubic centimeter versus lead’s 11 g/cc), which means less kinetic energy downrange. Simply put, hunters who had grown up shooting lead quickly noticed that steel didn’t kill as effectively, and they complained of wounding and losing more birds than in the days of lead. The inadequacy of steel shot led hobbyist loaders to experiment with materials like bismuth, nickel, iron alloy, and eventually tungsten.
Materials like bismuth and nickel were slight improvements over steel, but it was tungsten that changed the game when it comes to how we think about shotgun ballistics. Having a density of 19.3 g/cc (nearly 70 percent denser than lead), tungsten is a great option for hunting ammunition. However, tungsten was a thorn in the side of metallurgists for hundreds of years after its discovery. With a tensile strength of 1,510 megapascals, tungsten is the strongest naturally occurring metal on Earth. This strength, along with its brittleness and an extremely high melting point (over 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit), makes tungsten very difficult to work with. Ammo manufacturers experimented with different alloys until they came across what we now refer to as Tungsten Super Shot (TSS), a composition of 95 percent tungsten and 5 percent nickel and iron powder. TSS isn’t just an alternative to other nontoxic shot materials, it’s a vast improvement over anything that’s ever existed.
One company that has been leading the tungsten revolution is Mississippi-based Apex Ammunition. Founded, owned, and operated by three friends and military veterans, Nick Charney, Jared Lewis, and Jason Lonsberry, Apex hand-loads a variety of TSS shells for everything from turkeys to waterfowl to predator hunting.
“There are a ton of advantages to TSS,” says Lewis. “First, being 60 percent denser than lead and over twice the density of steel (18.5 g/cc), hunters can get more kinetic energy out of a smaller shot size. Second, with the drop in shot size more pellets can fit into a single shell.”
For example, a single No. 9 pellet of TSS has a similar mass to a No. 5 lead pellet—and because No. 9 pellets are much smaller, you can stuff a lot more pellets into a shotgun shell. Imagine a traditional 2 ¾-inch shell of No. 5 lead pellets with over twice as many pellets inside, and you start to understand the extreme effectiveness of TSS. Still, the advantages go on.
The higher density of TSS means it can deliver killing blows at longer distances. Moreover, smaller pellet sizes mean better penetration and more lethal shots. Smaller pellets are also less affected by wind because of their smaller surface area—which leads to greater accuracy, especially at longer distances. Perhaps more important, smaller, denser pellets slow less quickly, and thus maintain speed and energy for a longer distance. “[TSS] doesn’t hit and smush like lead,” says Lewis. “It hits and drives through the target. It’s like the difference between throwing a ping pong ball and a marble.”
Then there is what might be the greatest advantage of TSS: the opportunity to drop the payload weight, enjoy the corresponding drop in recoil, and still retain the ability to drop birds at long distances. A hunter can now carry a sub-gauge shotgun and enjoy the effectiveness of a larger load without the punishing recoil.
“What I love about our shells, and specifically our .410 shells,” says Lonsberry, “is that my sons can shoot them and be as effective at 40 and 50 yards as a guy with a 12-gauge shooting steel.”
“The number of kids who have shot their first bird with our .410 loads is incredible,” adds Charney. “It’s great to introduce someone to hunting because of the lower recoil, and it has also allowed children, the elderly, and people with disabilities to drop to sub-gauges and have that hunting experience, but still do it responsibly.”
Realizing the effectiveness of TSS, many states are changing their regulations to allow turkey hunting with smaller bore shotguns like a .410 as well as allowing smaller shot sizes to be used. TSS also means you can get away with carrying a lighter gun like a 28-gauge for pheasants and still be effective at traditional 12-gauge ranges.
Because of its high cost, TSS has traditionally been associated with turkey hunting, in which outside of patterning a shotgun, a hunter might only need a few shots per season. Apex, however, is quickly expanding TSS outside of turkey hunting. In many states, the limit for upland birds like grouse and pheasants is two per day—hardly high-volume shooting. “Hunting pheasants with TSS makes perfect sense,” says Lewis. “If you are putting on some miles, you want to make the shots you get count.” Moreover, many states are making nontoxic shot mandatory on public lands. Choosing to shoot TSS means you don’t have to worry about matching your shot material to where you are hunting.
Apex also has a line of shells designed for waterfowl hunting that blends TSS with their plated S3 steel shot. These shells give you the benefit of TSS but are more affordable for days when you need more than just a handful of shells. TSS especially shines for waterfowl hunting because of its consistent patterning. Unlike lead, which is quite soft, TSS shot doesn’t deform when it collides with other pellets in the shot column. This deformation is what causes fliers, holes in patterns, and fewer pellets on target. In ballistics tests TSS consistently offers full and predictable patterns out to 60 and even 70 yards.
“As long as you have patterned your gun with the choke you intend to hunt with and know the load you are shooting,” says Lewis, “the days of shooting 3 ½-inch BB steel loads for ducks and geese are over.”
Of course, how much you are willing to spend on shotgun shells depends on your budget and how much shooting you do. Not many people are going to be shooting TSS at the sporting clays course or the dove field. Still, when you take all the costs of a hunt into consideration, ammo is probably one of the cheapest components.
“You might spend more per shell, but you aren’t shooting as many shells,” says Charney. “You are killing birds on impact instead of having to take follow-up shots.”
Apex also offers shells through their custom shop, so you can have a TSS load made to your exact specifications. Even better, every shell is handmade and goes through a level of quality control not found elsewhere.
“It’s a hands-on process with everything we do,” says Lewis. “By the time a shell gets boxed, it has been touched seven times. We want everything to be consistent. Every Apex shell is plus or minus one pellet because we measure based on weight, not volume. Every box is hand-signed and dated by the builder to ensure quality. It’s hard to understand how well it works until you see it for yourself.”
TSS is undeniably better than lead in its effectiveness, but it is also better for the places where we hunt and fish. As hunters and anglers, we care about clean water and healthy ecosystems. Switching to nontoxic TSS is a no-brainer. When you combine the level of detail Apex brings to shotgun shells with the undeniable effectiveness of TSS, you have the greatest advance in shotshell performance in recent history.
